The blackcurrant to be said today, also called blackcurrant, is not a certain black grape that everyone knows in China today, but a small black berries, because it is very difficult to preserve, and it is not much grown in our country, so it is almost invisible in the market. The blackcurrant is small, as a dark fruit, rich in anthocyanins and multivitamins, it is definitely a multi-functional health player in the fruit world.
The wild populations of blackcurrant are found in both Europe and Asia, but were domesticated earlier by Europeans. As early as the 16th century, countries such as Britain, Germany and the Netherlands began to cultivate blackcurrant, which has a history of more than 400 years. In Xinjiang, china's blackcurrant origin, the real commercial cultivation will not be carried out until after the 1990s. In 1992, after years of hard work, local agricultural researchers in Xinjiang finally succeeded by grafting commercial varieties introduced from Europe to local varieties.
Although blackcurrants taste good for fresh food, it is difficult to see fresh blackcurrants for sale in the market, whether it is Europe or our country, and most blackcurrants are used in the food processing industry. Because of its rich nutrition, blackcurrant is used not only to make wine and make jams, but also to extract natural pigments, and is also a superior raw material for the production of health cosmetics, health care drugs and health care diet products.
As a harmless human and animal, and the nutritional value of the super high fruit, in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom, Australia and Eastern Europe is very popular, is widely used in the production of jams, juices, jelly, candy and wine, China once spent a lot of effort to tackle the commercial planting, but far away on the other side of the ocean in the United States but the beginning of the last century banned the cultivation of blackcurrants in the United States, why is this?
As a well-known fruit in Europe, blackcurrants were naturally brought to the American continent by the new Europeans, where they took root and multiplied. Also for preservation reasons, blackcurrants began to exist more in the form of backyard plants, and some farms used blackcurrants to make wine.
After the introduction of blackcurrants from Europe to the Americas, although they have not become a popular fruit, they can only be regarded as a little sister next door, but to some extent, blackcurrants can be regarded as a third-line actor in the United States, although not everyone has eaten, but there are not a few people who have heard it.
The peaceful life of the harmless, indisputable blackcurrant was broken in the early 20th century by a fungus imported from Europe.
A deadly fungus called vesicular rust was introduced to the North American continent from Europe and directly affected the logging industry in the United States at that time. Because this fungus was very lethal to the white pine, the pillar tree of the American logging industry at that time, and the blackcurrant happened to be the intermediate host of this deadly fungus at that time.
The U.S. logging industry soon pressed lawmakers to ban the cultivation of blackcurrants.
The logging industry was a new industry in the United States at that time, and the limelight was booming, while the blackcurrant was naturally unable to compete with the logging industry because of its own limitations and the support of related industries, so it was quickly defeated. In 1911, the U.S. Congress passed a law outlawing the cultivation of blackcurrants in the United States.
The blackcurrant, which had not yet become popular, was ruthlessly snuffed out, resulting in most Americans today knowing very little about the plant that was supposed to belong to the backyard tree species.
In 1966, new antiviral blackcurrant varieties were successfully bred, and the US federal government also relaxed the ban on blackcurrants, changing to the discretion of local states, but most states did not lift the previous ban.
Blackcurrants were banned until the beginning of the century, until a farmer named Greg ▪ Quinn appeared and was not successfully released from the ban by blackcurrants that had been "frozen" for nearly a century.
Quinn bought an abandoned new York state farm in 1999 and, while considering what crop to grow, found blackcurrants to be a good choice. Because he has a scholarly background in botany, coupled with his careful investigation of local farms and the search for scarce fruits and vegetables, he believes that the cultivation of blackcurrants is promising, and the only trouble is the ban on blackcurrants.
Image: Greg ▪ Quinn
The splendor of the logging industry, dominated by white pine, has long been a thing of the past, and white pine is no longer a tree species that was once widely used to make Christmas trees or cultivate into wood.
In 2002, Quinn also confirmed with experts at Cornell University that blackcurrants can be safely grown. After no obstacles from history and scientific support, he began to "petition" the legislature for the lifting of the blackcurrant ban.
Politicians are very realistic and will ask Quinn how many farmers will be involved in the cultivation of blackcurrants? What is the market outlook for blackcurrants? Quinn couldn't answer these questions, so the request to lift the ban was quickly dismissed. But Quinn was not dead-hearted, and still insisted on petitioning, which also earned him the nickname of "Crazy BlackCurrant Man".
After holding out for a few months, a Wall Street Journal reporter approached him and published his story in the newspaper. Then Quinn received a call from the late Senator William Larkin of New York. Larkin is a member of the Committee on Agriculture and he is interested in hearing more. Over the next six months, they worked together on a new bill to overturn the blackcurrant ban.
In April 2003, the New York State Senate voted for the first time on a new bill to legalize the commercial cultivation of gooseberries, which was unanimously passed. The following week, Parliament voted unanimously to pass the new law. Gov. George Pattaki signed the bill five months later, overturning a nearly century-old ban.
The lifting of the ban was a huge victory for Quinn, but he didn't have time to soak up the joy of victory and immediately began to promote blackcurrants to the nation. But the results can be imagined, and the difficulty is too great. Nearly a century of "freezing" has left generations of Americans indifferent to the fruit, and to get them to accept the fruit, it will take a lot of money to promote it, which is unrealistic for small farmers like Quinn.
Today, Quinn is focusing on importing and breeding different Polish varieties. Although he successfully overturned the ban, it was not easier to change the market than this, and he had to take care of poles, Slavs and Russians in the United States first, and it was a great pleasure to watch them regain their precious home cooking traditions. (End)
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